Fraudsters guilty of selling knock-off aftermarket parts in UK

Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit (CCU) and BMW Group have won a joint civil lawsuit against four Spanish fraudsters who attempted to sell counterfeit BMW parts and accessories in the UK.

The judgement by the European Union Trademark Court in Alicante ruled that the fraudsters violated Amazon’s policies and infringed on BMW Group’s registered trademarks by trying to sell counterfeit products including valve caps, badges and keyrings.

“Amazon has zero tolerance for counterfeit products and will take the fight [to those criminals] wherever they operate,” said Kebharu Smith, director of Amazon’s CCU.

“This judgement is a significant win. By working in partnership with brand owners like BMW Group, we can successfully shut down counterfeiters and stop fake items from ever reaching our customers or being sold elsewhere in the supply chain.”

Amazon employs a host of automated protection technologies to keep counterfeits from ever entering the store. In 2022, Amazon’s systems stopped more than 800,000 stopped these groups’ attempts at opening new selling accounts, before they were able to list a single product for sale.

More than 99% of listings suspected of being fraudulent or counterfeit are blocked or removed through Amazon’s automated, proactive protections.

“When Amazon and BMW Group both contribute their investigative capabilities, experience, and technological resources to jointly identify and target counterfeiters, we are very effective and successful in our fight against bad actors,” said Dr. Jochen Volkmer, Head of Intellectual Property Law, Trademarks, Designs, BMW Group.

“We are proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish together so far to keep customers safe from bad actors and are motivated to continue to work closely together to achieve a lasting impact. We are looking forward to continuing our collaboration.”

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